Dentists, General in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$136,199
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$60,911
30.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$135,187
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$197,110
Kept after tax
$136,199
Worth in national money
$135,187
State rank
11
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Virginia pays dentists, general a middle wage of $197,110, ranking 11 of 47 states and sitting about 15.3% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations Virginia reports, dentists, general comes in at 6 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $197,110 the take-home is $136,199, which is worth about $135,187 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $197,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia's median for dentists, general is $197,110, about 15.3% above the national figure and 11 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Dentists, general ranks 6 of 489 occupations by median in Virginia, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for dentists, general on its $197,110 median: $136,199 retained after tax becomes $135,187 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $197,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dentists, General
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $105,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $197,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $321,250 |
| This salary | $197,110 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Virginia | $136,199 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $146,773 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,853 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $182,785 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,394 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $197,110 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $105,400 and the ninetieth is $321,250 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $136,199 take-home in Virginia comes from $197,110. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 6 of 489.
- Two cautions on $135,187, the adjusted value of that $197,110 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 6 of 489 locally.
- The Virginia median of $197,110 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $105,400 to $321,250. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $136,199, from $197,110, assumes a single Virginia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 6 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 47 for it.
- This $135,187 adjusted figure, worked from $197,110, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 6 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 6 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $105,400, the highest tenth $321,250, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $135,187 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Virginia's own levy, $136,199 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($105,400) and the ninetieth ($321,250) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $135,187 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $136,199 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.